The Beach aka The Longest Post EVER

Okay, not such a clever post title, but no title could do justice to the rockin' good time we had at Ocean Isle this weekend! Lily and I drove down Saturday morning (which is good for us, as we heard stories that Friday night got a tad out of control...) and arrived safely by midday. Please note the view above. This was our backyard. Yes, I'd be jealous if I were you too!

As I stand by the old phrase that a picture is worth a thousand words, I will post a buttload of pictures for you to enjoy. Also, I am really tired and am currently experiencing a loss of coherent thoughts.

"You got me in a bikini, now what?"

Sam and Kirby play with Lily's toy. Its a really stinkin' annoying toy and I was secretly hoping that the boys would destroy, so we wouldn't have to take it home. No such luck, but hey, at least it has an off button!

JC cuddles with Westbrook, who seems content to chew on her finger.

Brendon at his favorite spot -- on the pier with his fishing pole!

Here are the girls not-so-subtly hiding for Rachel's surprise baby shower. Too bad Rachel almost foiled our plot by marching up the stairs and hanging out on the back porch for a while! Also, um, Caiti, were you hiding behind Lily?

Rachel opens the "big" gift from the Senior Women, a Mclaren stroller!

Lily did her part for recycling by breaking down the paper to a big blob of pastel pulp...

Lily tests out the Mclaren's raingear.

Lily shows her support for the hometeam, however, they disappointed us with their too-close loss. Sorry, Leslie!

Amy P, these are for you! We LOVE it, thank you so much! The little legs match her orange nose!

Olaf rented a kayak and I finally got my long-held wish to go kayaking! I will have to wait for Olaf to share some pics and then I will try to go back and add them to this post. It was a blast and I had a fantastic time!

On Sunday night, a few of us headed to the beach to check out the milky way without the nuissance of "light pollution" (thanks, Eliza, I can add that to the collection of random factoids to pull out at any random moment). There were so many stars in the night sky that it was hard to pick out specific constellations. I couldn't have asked for a better way to spend an evening!

On the final day, I finally took Lily to the beach. She loved it! She especially loved grinding the sand around in her tiny fist and then sucking the sand off her fingers.

I have to take a moment to thank EVERYONE who came to the beach with us. I am truly blessed to have a group of amazing girlfriends who have terrific husbands/boyfriends and gorgeous children. Amy and I were the only ones there acting in "single mom" capacity and I don't think either of us spent much time with our own kids. Everyone in the house pitched in and took care of everyone else. My awesome friends gave me a TON of breaks, getting up with Lily, watching her for hours while I kayaked, putting her to sleep, changing poopy diapers (shout out to JC and Leslie for that one!), so it really was a true vacation in every sense of the word to me! Thank you guys, I can honestly say that this was one of the best times of my life and I will never forget it!

We missed you Jen, Leah and Kristy!!!

One last picture...This is Lily in my special mirror that allows me to see her as I drive. She is fast asleep, with one of her little baby hands wrapped tightly around one of Olaf's fingers. So sweet!